Committee advances SB 18 to create food-desert grant program for grocery stores

Senator Rubio, the bill's author, presented SB 18 to the Senate Agriculture Committee as a proposal to establish a Food Desert Elimination Grant Program at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). "This bill will authorize the department to award grants to grocery stores, operators to support the opening of new grocery stores in food desert communities," Rubio said, describing the bill as intended to increase access to fresh, affordable food in areas lacking grocery options.

Leticia Garcia of the California Grocers Association described the scale and cost of opening grocery stores and urged support. "It's a very hefty investment that our grocers have to make minimum it's a $15,000,000 investment... this grant program will give a financial incentive to grocers to go into these communities that are highly underserved," Garcia testified. She told the committee there is an available federal pool through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative that the state could apply for, and she characterized that federal amount as about $60,000,000 currently available.

Michael Marks, a long-time fresh-food advocate, linked nutrition to education and public-health outcomes and urged support. "Food security is about calories, and the quantity of those calories. I'm concerned about food nutrition... Black communities, Latino communities, have far greater risk of not just food security, but nutrition insecurity," Marks said, adding that improving fresh-food access would yield health and economic benefits.

Committee members voiced general support and said the bill addresses a serious problem. The vice chair and other members noted the importance of pairing increased access with education so residents can use newly available fresh foods. Senator McNerney said county fairgrounds and other community assets illustrate the way local infrastructure can support access, and other members praised Rubio's focus on children and education.

The committee approved a motion to pass SB 18 as amended to the Appropriations Committee in a 4-0 vote and placed the bill on call. Witnesses and the author said the measure is one step toward addressing food deserts and that additional measures — including nutrition education and broader anti-poverty policies — would be needed to address root causes.

Background: Testimony cited an estimated minimum private investment required to open a grocery store (stated by witnesses as about $15 million) and mentioned an available federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative fund (stated as $60 million) that the state could leverage. The bill would authorize CDFA to administer grants to encourage grocery investment in underserved communities.

Outlook: SB 18 now goes to the Appropriations Committee. Implementation details and funding levels would be determined in subsequent hearings or legislation.